PRAGER UNIVERSITY: If Good And Evil Exist, God Exists.

Just ask Arthur Leff.

AT AMAZON, Coupons Galore in Toys.

Also, coupons in Electronics.

Just a reminder: InstaPundit is an Amazon affiliate. When you do your Christmas/Hanukkah shopping — or any other shopping — through the Amazon links on this page, including the “Shop Amazon” tab at the top or the searchbox in the right sidebar, you support the blog at no cost to yourself. Just click on the Amazon link, then shop as usual. It’s much appreciated!

BLUES MAGOOS: We Ain’t Got Nothing Yet.

JIM TREACHER ON CNN’S RESTRUCTURING: Is Soledad O’Brien about to go flyin’? You want a ratings boost, Mr. Zucker? Give Dana Loesch her own show.

A SYRIAN GENERAL WHO DEFECTED talks to PJ Media.

FASTER, PLEASE: A breakthrough against leukemia using altered T-cells. Though the use of modified HIV virus as a carrier puts me in mind of some horror movies. . . .

THIS MAY BE WHY RIGHT-TO-WORK PASSED EVEN IN MICHIGAN: “According to union documents, ‘representational activities’ (money spent on bargaining contracts for members) made up only 11 percent of total spending for the union. Meanwhile, spending on ‘general overhead’ (union administration and employee benefits) comprised of 61 percent of the total spending.”

THIS SEEMS LIKE A BAD IDEA: US sending 20 more F-16s to Egypt, despite turmoil in Cairo.

BABIES: The Value of Iron Supplementation. “Iron supplements may help boost brain development and ward off behavioral problems in babies who are born a bit on the small side, a new study from Sweden suggests.”

MY USA TODAY COLUMN: Obama’s Free Market Space Exploration Success.

TEN YEARS AFTER: Working On The Road.

AT AMAZON, it’s the Home Audio & Video Outlet.

Also, up to 53% off on select Pixar films on Blu-Ray.

HIGHER EDUCATION BUBBLE UPDATE: New York Times: Who Will Hold Colleges Accountable?

Much attention has been paid to for-profit colleges that offer degrees online while exploiting federal student-loan programs and saddling ill-prepared students with debt. But nearly all of the institutions caught up in the 10-day credit dodge exposed by The Chronicle were public, nonprofit institutions. And both the credit-givers, like Western Oklahoma, and the sports machines at the other end of the transaction, like Florida State University, were doing nothing illegal. . . .

The lack of meaningful academic standards in higher education drags down the entire system. Grade inflation, even (or especially) at the most elite institutions, is rampant. A landmark book published last year, “Academically Adrift,” found that many students at traditional colleges showed no improvement in critical thinking, complex reasoning and writing, and spent their time socializing, working or wasting time instead of studying. (And that’s not even considering the problem of low graduation rates.)

Indeed.

STEPHEN GREEN: Fiscal Cliff Reality: Everyone Is Rich, Your Taxes Are Going Up, and the Country is Bankrupt.

FORWARD! How Middle Class Wealth Collapsed to a 40-Year Low. “Between 2007 and 2010, the median net worth of U.S. households fell by 47 percent, reaching its lowest level in more than forty years, adjusted for inflation. In other words, middle class wealth virtually evaporated in this country. A good chunk of the population got sucked through a financial wormhole back to the sixties. . . . Our economy still fundamentally runs on middle class spending — on houses, on cars, on trips to the mall — and those families saw their finances eviscerated in a way unlike what’s happened during any recession since World War II.”

MEGAN MCARDLE: Guns Don’t Turn Decent People Into Killers.

NASA PHOTO: The Nighttime Earth From Space Like You’ve Never Seen It Before.

HMM: Echelon Spy Network Secrets To Be Revealed in Megaupload Copyright Case.

MILLIONAIRE COLLEGE PRESIDENTS WHO DON’T PAY TAXES? I think the GOP House should ban this practice. At some point, you’ve made enough money!

WHERE ARE AMERICA’S BADLY-NEEDED Arctic Icebreakers?

CHANGE: First post-reelection Tea Party victory — Tennessee will not set up Obamacare exchange.

IT’S NOT A WAR ON WOMEN: It’s a war on married women. “As our lawmakers​—​newly reminded of the power of female voters​—​huddle to strategize about the ‘fiscal cliff,’ they have an opportunity to address a real threat to female prosperity: a tax code that is disproportionately burdensome to married women, especially working moms.”

UPDATE: Reader Andrea Sanford writes:

Thank you for posting the article on how the tax code is unfair to married women.That is exactly our situation. My husband is a Ph.d chemical engineer and I work part time as an RN.There were years it cost us money to work ,but I have always wanted to work part time since I do do a useful job for society and it has always been “insurance” if something were to happen to my husband. So my reward is that I will have to give up a 30 year career this year because my husband’s income fluctuates enough that we could easily go over the 250k mark and suddenly be RICH! Of course “they” know that if you try and protest people will think you are whining and people don’t want to reveal their incomes.It really is not a lot of money.

Also.a tax break that you probably get but bugs me is that our friend that are profs get to send their kids to school free and are never taxed on that benefit. Talk about bonanza. So of course they also don’t really care about tuition.

Well, if my daughter goes to UT I get half off on tuition (but not room and board). Some other places are more generous.

NUKES: Shipments of super-hot, fissile uranium to Nevada could begin in early 2013.

THE NARRATIVE CHANGES AS POLITICS REQUIRE:

Of course, same-sex marriage started out as a conservative idea, and lefties resisted. That back in the day when marriage was patriarchy and oppression.

Here’s a prediction: Once gay marriage becomes the norm, the left can get back to critiquing marriage. That topic got backburnered.

Sounds right to me.

THE SMITHEREENS: Blood And Roses.